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GSP by TKO in the 3rd round
This will be the rubber match in this great mixed martial arts trilogy. Georges St. Pierre (14-2) is taking this fight with only a months notice and this is a crucial fight for him. Him, and Matt Hughes (41-5) will be fighting for the UFC interim welterweight le until Matt Serra becomes healthy again.
If St Pierre loses, he will be sent down the welterweight pecking order and have to wait in line behind a number of top level fighters like BJ Penn, Karo Parisyan, Jon Fitch, Josh Kosheck and Diego Sanchez. This is a very important fight and UFC President Dana White asked a number of fighters if they wanted the le shot (like Jon Fitch) but it was only GSP that would take it on short notice.
GSP is well aware of this, and he is known to be a gym rat and is constantly training, so he will not need a lot of time to prepare for this fight. Since he has faced Hughes twice already at UFC 65: Bad Intentions and at UFC 50: The War of '04, there will be no surprises for him. Conversely Hughes has been preparing for BJJ fighter, now he will have to change his game plan to fight St Pierre.
St Pierre is a much bigger, and stronger fighter and technically has much better submissions than Hughes. In the past, Hughes has been able to dominate much bigger fighters and by using his freakish strength to overpower fighters. Either it is age or wear and tear of his body, but Hughes is not the same dominate fighter he was 5 years ago. He has better wrestling skills than St. Pierre, but since GSP has a bigger body frame, Hughes’ wrestling skills are not as overpowering as in his past fights.
GSP has been working with Greg Jackson and the Jackson camp in New Mexico and has been wrestling with the Canadian wrestling team. His last fight against Josh Kosheck at UFC 74: Respect, was against a natural wrestler so the transition to fight Hughes will be the same. GSP will be prepared for a MMA wrestler so Hughes will not have any surprises for him.
Recently Matt Hughes has left the Pat Miletich and Miletich Fighting System to train elsewhere. Apparently he had a falling out with MFS and now trains on his own. Both him and Robbie Lawler left MFS and have formed Team Hughes/HIT Squad which is a new gym in Illinois. However this gym is not set up yet so Hughes has been training alone with only Lawler and Jacob Hey. This is not an ideal training environment for a person that will be facing a guy that just destroyed him last time around.
Planning a new gym and having only a few training partners are going to affect his performance. Right now there are so many things in Hughes’ life that he is not able to train properly.
Bottom Line: Georges St. Pierre is the prototypical fighter. UFC president Dan White has called him the next generation of mixed martial arts fighter as he is a well rounded all purpose fighter. He has incredible kicks and punches, has the power and upper body strength over Hughes and technically a better jujitsu fighter. GSP just has too much power in the stand up.
At this point, Hughes’ career is on the decline. Had he faced Matt “The Terror” Serra, I would have picked him to lose against Serra. Hughes is not the dominant pound for pound fighter he was 5 years ago. If you have watched the Ultimate Fighter Reality show (TUF) this year, you can tell that there is something off about Hughes. Five years ago he was a pure killer, and right now he doesn’t have the eye of the tiger in his eyes. He just doesn’t seem to want it as much as he did before and he has other outside influences taking him away from fighting. With all that bible talk and him talking about God rather than training, I feel Hughes has lost the will to fight and compete.
by Cam Campbell
http://www.fighting-mma.com/mma-matc...-st-pierre.php
GSP by TKO in the 3rd round
st.pierre by submission
GSP by sheer greatness.
Hughes
I love Hughes and GSP the same.
Going to be a tough fight for me.
I could see Hughes winning a 3 round decision, but not in a 5 rounder. That's too much time for GSP to finish him.
I have to go with the Montreal native
Last edited by lefty; 12-30-2007 at 01:16 AM.
gsp early 2nd rnd tko
GSP by submission.
GSP will make mattie his little once again and I say 2nd rnd TKO!!
As long as GSP comes in great shape he should take Hughes in this one. Hughes can not stand with GSP and he has a hard time taking him down. His wrestling skills have been on on par or better than Hughes as well for some time. He avoided all of Hughes takedowns in the 2nd fight and then outwrestled Josh Koscheck, maybe the best WW in the UFC at wrestling. GSP by 2nd rd KO again i say.
all you gotta do is look at:
1. Their last fight
2. GSP's training partners
Hughes is gonna get smoked in a bad way...
but.. but Hughes is going back to his roots!
Yep GSP has said over and over that he wrestles with some of the best in the world in camp and training partners. He continues to perform stellar in that area yet people still question his wrestling ability. I don't see any real glaring advantage that Hughes has here. A lucky KO like Serra got is highly unlikely since Hughes has little power in his hands.
I know...but.. but Hughes is going back to his roots!
nobody in GSP's camp can get him down...or stop HIS takedowns...including Rashad Evans...
I predict an early takedown by GSP, like in the Koscheck fight...
GSP has grown by leaps and bounds since their first fight. Hughes believes he can take down GSP like in the first fight. It's not going to happen.
I want to see GSP choke out Hughes like Penn, but I think I want a KO more.
I don't see that happening. Is GSP capable of the takedown, there is no doubt he is. However why would he bother?? Matt has good submissions and that is what got GSP caught in the first fight, he made a mistake on the ground and got submitted. GSP i see just using his wrestling to avoid the takedown and keep it standing. That is the best way for him to win easy.
Last edited by dbreiden83080; 12-28-2007 at 01:12 AM.
After watching Countdown to UFC 79 last night, I think Matt is in big trouble. While GSP is getting world class specialized training and mma training with Jardine, Evans, Kang, etc...Hughes is at a rec center with an injured Lawler and some dudes....shooting hoops and wrestling...
I just wouldn't be surprised to see him do it to prove a point...
After watching Countdown to UFC 79 last night, I think Matt is in big trouble. While GSP is getting world class specialized training and mma training with Jardine, Evans, Kang, etc...Hughes is at a rec center with an injured Lawler and some dudes....shooting hoops and wrestling...
I have to agree with you here. I was shocked watching that last night. Matt left a world class trainer in Pat Militech and the MFS training facilities for that. He is not getting any specialized training down there like you said and has nobody to really push him. GSP looked 100% ready to tear right through Hughes in this fight. Matt is likely in deep trouble in this fight.
GSP, classy as always...
Total DOMINATION, TOTAL...
YayI have to go with the Montreal native
remember on the ultimate fighter when he hughes was talkin to gsp about teaching him how to defend an armbar after their first fight lol gotta love the irony
LOL yeah man St. Pierre made hughes his !!
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